The Grenada sentinel., 1887-02-26

Il 90 still further, and say to you that
those men play the fool who undertake TO
pay out eternity for time. How littl care
do we bestow upon the railroad depot
where we stop twenty minutes to dine.
We dash in and dash out again. We do
not examine the architecture of the build
ing, nor the face OF the caterer. Wesup-
ply our hunger, we pay our money and
we put on our hat and take our place in
the train. What is that depot compared
with the place for which we are
boundl Now, my friends, this world is
only stopping place on the way to a mo-
mentous destination, and yet how many OF
us SIT down as though we had consum-
mated our Journey, as though we had
come to the final depot, when stopping
here is as compared with our stopping
there as is twenty minutes to twelve hours
yea, as the one-hundredth part OF sec
ond compared with ten thousand million
years! Would Spain sell US Cuba for
bushel of wheats Would England sell us
India for ton of coal! Would Venice sell
us all her pictures for an American
school-boy's sketch! All! that would be
better bargain for England Spain and
Venice than that man makes who gives his
eternity for time. Yet how many there
are who are saying to-day:
''Give me the worlds dollars and you
may have the eternal rewards. Give me
the worlds applause and you may have
the garlauds of God. Give me twenty or
forty or sixty years of worldly successes,
and don't care what becomes of the fu-
ture l am going into that world unin-
sured. l take the responsibility. Don't
bother me about your religion Here have
the two worlds before me-thls one and
the next. l have chosen this. Go away
from me- God and angels, and all thoughts
of the future"
But where is CrGsus, and Cleopatra,
and Aesopas, who had one dish of food
that cost 81, 1000 and Lentulus, who
had pound of food worth Sl75,O)0; and
Scaurus who bought a country seat for
$40, ora, 900; and Tiberius, who left at death
a fortune Of $llS, 10000! Where are they!
If windy day should blow all the dust
that is left of them into your eyes it would
not make you wink twice. Ah, my friends,
then very certainly your comforts OF sur
rounding can not keep back the old
archer. You can not charm him with
music, or dazzle him with plate, or decoy
him with pictures, or bribe him with your
money.
What is the use of struggling for that
which you can not kept AS long as you
have clothes and food and shelter, and
education for yourselves and your chill
dren, and the means for Christian gen.
erosity, be satisfied You worry, and
tug, and sweat, and wear yourself out for
Il ief, -bn1p re
of crows feet on your temples and cheeks
before they ought to have come there.
You are ten years older than you ought to
be, and yet you can not take along with
you int the future world even the two
pennies on your eyclids to keep them shut
after you are dead. And yet you hold on
to this world with the avidity of the miser
who persisted in having his bonds and
mortgages and notes of hand in the bosom
of his dressing gown while he was dying,
and in the last moment held his parch-
ment in such tight grip that the under
taker after death must almost break the
mans fingers in order to get the bonds
| away
Men are actually making that choice,
| while there are others who have done far
| differently. When they tried to bribe
with money Martin Luther, some one said
There's no use trying to do that-that
Dutch beast cares nothing for gold"
When they tried by giving him cardin'
ais hat to bribe Savonarola, he stood ur
in his pulpit and cried out:
81 will have no red hat, save that Of
martyrdom, colored with my own blood.
These men chose Christ amid great per
secutions; but how many there are in this
day, when Christianity seems to be popu
lar, who are ashamed of Christ and moi
willing to take the hardships-the seem
ing hardships-of his religion! And alas
for them! for long after the crash Of the
world demolition they shall find that in al
these years they were turning their backs
upon the palaces of Heaven, scrabbline
on the door of this worlds treasure-house
the saliva of terrific lunacy on their lip:
horribly and overwhelmingly playine
the fool
Once more say to you that those mel
play tho fool who, while they admit tht
righteousness of religion, set it down TO
future attendance. Do you know hov
many times the word "now' occurs in tn
Biblel Over 200 times. One of the short
est words in the Bible, and yet one Of tn
grandest in meaning and ramifcations
When does the Bible say is the best tim
to repentl Now. When does the Bible sa
that God will forgive. Now. When doe
God say is the only safe time to attend t
matters of the soul! Now But that wor
"now" melts away as easily as snow
flake in the evening rain Where is tn
ssnow" of the dead of last year! the 'now
of the dead of last month! the 'now' {
the dead of last week? t he "now" of tn
dead of yesterday! Time picked it up i
its beak and flew away with it.
Igreet you to-day, my brother, in tn
very gate of eternity. Some Of us ma
live longer, and some of us may live
shorter, time; but, at the longest life
so short that l feel we all stand on tn
door-sill of the great future. The ne,
step-all the angels of God can not und
the consequences. Will your exit frol
this life be a rising or q falling! TT
righteous go up. The Saviour helps then
!, Ministering spirits meet them. The dool
of paradise open to receive them. VI
upl upl o, what grand thing it is
die with strong faith in God, like tn;
which Stonewall Jackson had when, in h
expiring moments, he said:
"Let US cross over the river, and !
down under the shade"
But to leave this world unpreparedly
falling-falling from God, falling fro
hope, falling from peace, falling fro
Heaven-swiftly falling, wildly fallin
forever falling.
Awake man! awake, woman! from tn
| 1hop al op off t,l Tn1y b,io